The present disclosure relates to organizational systems. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to organizational systems for bagged products. Embodiments as disclosed herein are related to the organization and dispense of bags of multiple individual frozen food products, for example chicken nuggets or the like from a freezer.
Restaurant and food preparation settings, particularly a quick service restaurant (QSR), meet customer order volume and speed expectations by cooking, heating, or otherwise assembling food that is previously prepared or partially prepared once an order is placed. The pre-prepared or partially prepared foods may be frozen to facilitate supply chain, transportation, and storage of the pre-prepared foods prior to preparation for delivery to a customer. These foods commonly include foods which are cooked in a deep fryer, including, but not limited to French fries, tater tots, jalapeno poppers, onion rings, breaded mushrooms or cheese curds, mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets, and chicken tenders, although it will be recognized that other foods may be similarly used and prepared. The loose individual food items are held in pre-portioned bags in a freezer prior to use. While pre-portioned bags are convenient for portion management, these bags are difficult to keep organized in a freezer.
Article management solutions are available to organize shelves, coolers, vending machines, for the dispense of articles. Often these management solutions are designed for merchandising or selling goods to a consumer. Examples of available solutions can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,159 entitled “Product Display and Article Dispensing Device”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,243 entitled “Gravity Flow Rack”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,486 entitled “Gravity Feed Shelf”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,852 entitled “Merchandising Fixture and shelf divider system therefor”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,898 entitled “Merchandising System” U.S. Pat. No. 7,213,722 entitled “Merchandise Dispenser with Time Delay and One-Way Retaining Member”, each of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. However, such systems are not particularly adapted to organize bagged food products in a frozen environment.
Freezer organization of these bags present challenges in the food preparation setting. Loose bags of food products can intermingle, thus making it more difficult to find the appropriate bag within the freezer. Due to the flexibility/shiftability of the food within the bags, bags stacked within the freezer may become unstable with a risk of falling out of the freezer when a freezer door is opened. Finally, current systems are challenging for inventory control and management, particularly when stored food is typically preferred to be used on a first in, first out basis for consistent food quality and freshness.
Therefore, solutions are desirable for organization and dispense of bags of frozen food products that alleviate these challenges.